Ribera: Cop shot suspect up close

Kathleen Sullivan and Katherine Seligman, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, September 9, 1995

1995-09-09 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- An Ingleside District man killed by a San Francisco police officer was shot at close range after he had fled the scene of a drug bust, then doubled back toward the officer on a bicycle, Police Chief Tony Ribera says.

At the time, undercover narcotics Officer Jessie Washington was trying to make his way through an agitated crowd in Ocean View Playground to a police van with a second suspect, who had already been handcuffed, Ribera said Friday.

Just how Washington came to pull his semiautomatic pistol and shoot William Hankston Jr. in the back of the head from a foot away is still unclear.

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District Attorney Arlo Smith, whose office is conducting an investigation, said Friday that the close range of the shooting suggests three possibilities: that there was a struggle, that Washington fired his gun unintentionally, or that the officer shot in an attempt to stop a "fleeing felon."

Ribera said the finding by police senior criminalist Jim Norris that Hankston had been shot at close range "would suggest that there was a struggle."

African American community leaders called the Wednesday shooting "cold-blooded murder" and announced the formation of a committee that would hire its own investigator and lawyer and work to "safeguard against police brutality."

"We want the responsible officer off the streets and we want him investigated and charged," said Marie Harrison, a committee member who spoke at an emotionally charged meeting Friday evening at Ocean View Playground, just a few feet from where Hankston, 29, was shot Wednesday afternoon.

"If that officer is not taken off the streets, we will shut this city down," Harrison said. "We can do it nonviolently. We are holding the whole of San Francisco responsible."

Nine people were arrested Thursday night near the park on suspicion of throwing objects at police and resisting arrest. The neighborhood was quiet Friday.

Angry teenagers&lt;

Committee members alternately embraced and argued with teenagers who wandered in and out of Friday's meeting, all of them expressing frustration and anger over what they saw as a senseless killing.

Smith confirmed witness and police accounts that Hankston had been on a bicycle when he was shot, but would not comment on whether he had a weapon. Witnesses have said he didn't.

Although some witnesses have said Hankston was doing nothing wrong when police tried to arrest him, Ribera said preliminary findings from the medical examiner show that Hankston had four rocks of crack cocaine in his stomach.

Smith stressed that his office would conduct a full investigation. He said it may be necessary to call a grand jury inquiry, because there are conflicting stories about what happened and because some witnesses are reluctant to come forward.

Ribera said Washington, 39, had been interviewed by the Police Department's management control unit, which handles police misconduct investigations. But the chief said he was prohibited by state law from discussing the interview.

Ribera said Washington was too distraught to talk with homicide inspectors who are investigating the shooting separately, though he is expected to meet with them Monday.

"I talked with Jessie personally," Ribera said. "He is very, very upset about the whole situation. It's a tragedy, and no one thinks it's a tragedy more so than Jessie."

Victim was planning a move&lt;

Hankston's life ended just as he was planning to make a major change, his parents said. He was set to move to Sacramento in the next few weeks, away from the neighborhood where he'd grown up and first gotten into trouble, a place where his family said he felt an ever-present sense of danger.

"It's quiet there (in Sacramento)," said his mother, Janice Lewis. "He was going to go to school and get his (high school equivalency diploma) and get a job."

She said he wanted a better environment for his 2-year-old son, who'd become the center of his life. He took the child everywhere. Lewis said, "He and his son had a love affair."

Hankston served about three years in state prison for narcotics sales, state Department of Corrections records show. Lately he'd been working odd jobs, but had trouble finding permanent work because of his criminal record, his mother said.

Friends described Hankston as generous and peaceful, a young man who could always make people smile and loved to play basketball. They still called him "Squeegy," the nickname he'd gotten as a youngster when his still-squeaky voice seemed out of sync with his height.

His size - more than 6 feet tall and weighing well over 200 pounds - belied his gentle nature, said his mother.

"It seems like every time he walked out of the house he was harassed (by police)," she said. "He's black, he's so big, he's dark-skinned."

Hankston's brother Keith said the two had discussed the possibility of meeting a violent and early death.

"Being in this community and this surrounding, we've been to so many funerals," he said. "We talked about, if this ever happened to one of us, we wouldn't want each other to cry. He taught me to keep my head up and be strong, to look ahead."

Ribera said Washington, along with undercover narcotics Officer Mike Logan, had gone to Ocean View Playground on Wednesday evening as part of an enforcement program designed to rid the park of drug trafficking.

They "observed a drug deal going down," Ribera said; they announced they were police officers and tried to place Hankston and another man under arrest.

Washington handcuffed one suspect, but Hankston ran and Logan pursued him, Ribera said. At some point, other people in the park gave Hankston a bicycle, the chief said.

"He doubled back to where Washington was holding the other suspect," Ribera said. "(Washington) was having trouble getting through the crowd. There was a lot of activity going on."

Logan told investigators that's when he heard a shot, Ribera said.

No drugs were found on the second suspect, who was questioned by police and released.&lt;